You Belong...Whether You Feel Like It or Not

Have you have ever felt as though you were on the outside looking in, as though you didn't belong? If so, you're not alone like you think you are. Most of us can identify with these painful disappointments. You've felt rejected; you've suffered a setback in satisfying your need to belong. This sort of experience can ruin your day, or week, or life. Can Jesus overcome it for you? You bet He can!

If you were a slave on the auction block and someone made a bid to purchase you that no one could match, when the auctioneer's gavel crashed down, would you then belong to that person? Of course. God, in His mercy and love, purchased you. First Corinthians 7:23 says, “You were bought with a price...” There were two bidders at the sale that day—God and Satan—and you were the merchandise. Satan offered the glitter of the world's system; God offered His only Son. You took God up on His offer. Whether you realized it or not, when you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and Lord, the Father bought you, so you belong to Him. You do not own yourself. You belong to the One who purchased you.

So whenever crushing rejection strikes, you must instantly begin to pump this fact through your mind over and over and over: “Thank You, Lord, that I belong to You! Oh, thank You, Sir, that I belong.” You must supersaturate your mind with thoughts like these for 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes—you flood your mind with the fact that you belong to the most important Person in the entire universe. You've got to keep flooding your mind with this. Getting your feeler to cooperate is God's problem. You can't do that.

Knowing you belong is not a feeling. That is a fact! God said so. You have spent a lifetime targeting others and self as sources of your love supply. Now you're going to target God. You're pumping truth through your mind. And do you know what will happen? Even though your emotions may not zero out, they will ultimately begin to ease off somewhat. Yes, they will. You're being “transformed by the renewing of your mind' (Romans 12:20). By targeting God first, people second, and yourself third, you'll be changing the way you think and believe about the issue of belonging.

This isn't mind over matter—a mere fleshly imitation of God's method; this is biblical obedience. You are “setting your mind on things above” (Colossians 3:2), on the way things actually are.